


Morpheus

by MeltedIceAngel



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Choi Beomgyu-Centric, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mention of Blood (metaphorical), Nightmares, Protective Kang Taehyun, fear of the unknown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24764419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltedIceAngel/pseuds/MeltedIceAngel
Summary: "He wracked what was left of his calm, rational mind to try and remember what he had dreamt. It had obviously been something traumatic, but not enough that he spent hours mulling over it like normal. Had it been so bad that his unconscious had made a real effort to shield him from it when he woke? Something about that seemed scarier than the dream itself. The existence of something so awful that he may not have been able to handle it had he had time to ruminate."- Taehyun didn't break his promises, so when he promised Beomgyu he wouldn't let anything happen to him, Beomgyu believed him. Even when his body told him to run, that it was going to get him--whatever "it" was--Taehyun was still right there, solid and dependable.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 1
Kudos: 89





	Morpheus

**Author's Note:**

> Ever had those dreams that just shock you silent and it takes about half an hour of staring at the wall before you feel human again? Yeah.

Beomgyu opened his eyes, and for a moment, was disoriented. His heart was pounding, limbs shivering with the adrenaline spiking in intervals through his body. He had a vague moment of recollection, and then it was gone, washed away with the tides of wakefulness. 

He found that he couldn’t move. His limbs were no longer under his control. The bones and muscles were as useless as weights shoved into the back of an overly crowded closet. Trapped against the surface they laid against, so heavy they sunk and embedded permanent patterns as a reminder of their forgotten existence. 

The tears came unbidden, his chest hitching with suppressed, disquieted breaths. The cold of them tickled his cheeks and made him flinch as they fell into his ears, his hearing momentarily muffled before the water broke down and leaked back out. It felt disgusting, but he still couldn’t move, and he had no idea why. 

He wracked what was left of his calm, rational mind to try and remember what he had dreamt. It had obviously been something traumatic, but not enough that he spent hours mulling over it like normal. Had it been so bad that his unconscious had made a real effort to shield him from it when he woke? Something about that seemed scarier than the dream itself. The existence of something so awful that he may not have been able to handle it had he had time to ruminate.

The knowledge gripped him in iron-clad hands, dagger-like fingers clawing into his chest. His anxiety felt like sluggish bleeding, his body becoming weaker and weaker as it continued. He tried to find it in himself to pull his hands up and make it stop. To press with all his strength on his chest and will his breathing to come more naturally. To will the strength seeping out of him to stop. It was a wasted effort; he was frozen. 

His nose clogged and made it even harder to breathe, a cough ripping its way from the bottom of his throat as he choked. He needed to turn himself over, or better yet, get a grip on himself and blow his nose. That harsh, dark voice in the back of his mind did nothing to help. If anything, it made him feel somehow worse. The insignificant little pricks of a needle telling him he was an adult, he was a _man_ , no less. He shouldn’t be wallowing in his own snot and tears over a bad dream.

More drops of blood, less strength in his shaking limbs. Part of him wanted to call for help, but something kept him quiet. There was another voice among the others, telling him that if he made a noise, it would _find him,_ and he’d get taken away, and he’d never see his family again. It sounded ridiculous to that caustic voice, and only a tad rational to the voice sounding suspiciously close to his actual inner thoughts. 

Part of him was more worried that he was differentiating the voices in his head to separate entities. They were all him, just the him he tried to hide from on occasion. _Hide. Hide. Hide._ He heard, beating him like an ogre wielded club. 

“Beomgyu?” A voice said, this time not echoing like one might in a grand, empty cathedral. It brought Beomgyu down, his body once again feeling more than the constant buzz of energy that steadily flowed around them. 

He tried to call out to them, but his mouth stayed closed. 

“Hyung, you’re okay. Follow my voice,” Beomgyu knew who was leaning over him. Taehyun’s voice was unique and easy to pick out among the plethora of sounds he heard daily. All of the members had their own tone, their own _melody,_ when they spoke. It distracted him further from the cacophony in his mind. “This is going to be super weird, but I’ve decided that if I don’t do this, you’re going to drown in your own snot.”

Beomgyu had all of two seconds to try and figure out the meaning behind that before Taehyun was wrapping a tissue around his nose, pulling it down to try and get enough out to allow Beomgyu to properly take a breath. It was mortifying in a way he couldn’t dwell over because, after Taehyun’s second attempt at clearing his nose, he could _breathe_. It was one of the most freeing feelings. You never took the time to appreciate breathing out of your nose until you couldn’t.

“There, that sounds much better. You were starting to scare me,” Taehyun chuckled, leaning over Beomgyu’s body to place the tissues on their nightstand. He settled down on his knees, a small smile twisting the ends of his lips up. Beomgyu wanted to ask why. He wanted to smile. He wouldn’t feel this mind-boggling uneasiness with every beat of his thudding heart if he was smiling. 

“You’re okay, hyung. I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Taehyun said, using a nervous, shy finger to wipe away the tears still trying to flood Beomgyu’s ears. 

“I can’t remember,” Beomgyu managed to force out of his dry, aching throat. Taehyun blew a puff of air out of his nose and twisted his lips. 

“It can’t hurt you then,” Taehyun whispered, intertwining his fingers with Beomgyu’s. Slowly, the shaking began to slow until it stopped altogether. He lifted himself up, arms behind him as a form of support. 

“It feels like when you’re on the edge of a forest at night. You don’t know how you got there, because you’re pretty sure you were _in_ the forest the last you remember. Even though you can see claw marks in your shirt and it _hurts_ , there’s nothing on your chest. You look up and try to catch sight of what could’ve done it, but there’s nothing there: no glowing eyes, no shadows. You’re alone,” Beomgyu wasn’t very good at waxing poetics, but he’d had enough time laying there to think about it. 

“You’re never alone. Sometimes, you just need to look the other way,” Taehyun said, turning Beomgyu’s face gently toward him. They stared at each other, the moment fleeting as Beomgyu unintentionally lowered his eyes to look at the bedsheets below them. “Do you want to try and sleep?”

“I don’t want to have that dream again,” Beomgyu said. He was terrified of something he couldn’t even remember. Taehyun just smiled again and pulled Beomgyu down, his arms wrapped tightly around his friend’s slightly larger body. The scathing voice was back, telling Beomgyu that Taehyun was small and young. He was meant to be protected, not a protector. 

“Then join me in mine. I was just about to discover a new planet that had humanoid creatures. You can help me learn about them,” Taehyun said, pulling the blanket over them. Somehow Beomgyu wasn’t surprised that the most exciting part for Taehyun was _learning_. 

“I’ll drive the ship if you don’t make me take notes on the eating habits of an alien species,” Beomgyu said, and Taehyun just hummed his agreement. 

“What if you eat the food, and then I make notes on how it affects your body?” Taehyun asked, and Beomgyu slapped him in the chest. 

“You’d let me get poisoned for science. I’m deeply offended,” Beomgyu grumbled. Taehyun just shrugged and didn’t offer anything in response. 

“Can you two _please_ shut up?” Huening Kai groaned, his head audibly hitting his pillow. Both Beomgyu and Taehyun chuckled at their youngest’s misfortune. Still, they resolved to turn in to save them from Soobin’s wrath in the morning. Kai was a tattletale, and Soobin rolled over for him. 

“I’m scared,” Beomgyu whispered. Taehyun wrapped his arms impossibly tighter around Beomgyu.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe with me. Go to sleep,” Taehyun said. Beomgyu was awake long enough to be aware of both Kai and Taehyun having fallen back to sleep. It took a few more minutes to convince himself that Taehyun never broke promises, and once he did, he finally allowed his eyes to slip closed. 

“He asleep?” Kai asked a few moments later, mumbled by his pillow.

“Yeah,” Taehyun whispered, allowing his eyes to pop back open.

“Thank God. Goodnight, love you both,” Kai said, rolling over to face the wall. Taehyun too settled down properly that time, satisfied knowing Beomgyu had managed to nod off. 

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meltediceangel (helps pay for medical school)
> 
> Ask me questions: https://curiouscat.me/gypsyether  
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/gypsyether  
> Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gypsyether/


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